


Sunshine

by dustjacketduck



Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: F/M, Post-Series, Written 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 17:36:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16978950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dustjacketduck/pseuds/dustjacketduck
Summary: Based on "Sunshine" by Skylar Grey.





	Sunshine

Ahiru lifted her head up from the letter she was writing to Rue when the door opened. “Welcome home, Fakir!” she called.

He didn't respond and just slammed the door shut behind him.

Her heart plummeted.

_Not again. Please_.

She tentatively rose to her feet and followed him upstairs.

He paused for a second in front of the door to their bedroom, then, with a strained scream of frustration, hit it with the side of his fist. Once, then twice, then he leaned forward, resting his head against the wood of the door and began to shake with muffled sobs.

Ahiru didn't hesitate to run over and wrap an arm around him.

At her touch, Fakir initially flinched, then looked over. “Oh… A-Ahiru. Hey. I'm sorry, I didn't--”

Eyes closed, she shook her head. “Shh. It's okay. Another rough day?”

“... Yeah. I don't really want to talk about it.”

“S-Sure. But please, if it's important, don't try to hide anything again.”

“Don't worry.” After a long pause, he sighed. “I'm just sick of this. All of this. I feel like no matter what I do or how damn hard I try, it amounts to nothing. I'm still so _useless_. We have nothing, and you're unhappy. God, that's the worst part of all of this.”

Ahiru just looked at him with wide eyes before talking, each word slow and deliberate. “I know… I'm not Princess Tutu anymore, and I can't just dance with you to help you through this, but I'm still going to help--I want to help, I _need_ to help… um, will you please take a walk with me for a few minutes? I need to talk to you.”

* * *

 

She held his hand tightly and led him through town, always talking but saying nothing in particular. He understood, but said nothing back to her.

When they reached the lakeside, she eased her grasp and walked a few steps ahead of him, out onto the dock.

“Back in the Lake of Despair…” she began, but her words caught. She tried again, voice shaking. “Back in the Lake of Despair, you told me about how the story gave us roles, and how those roles protected us from having to truly live out our lives.”

“I--yeah.”

“Well, the story’s over now. We don't have those roles anymore. We’re living our lives now, truly, and it's hard, yeah, but not impossible, right? I mean, at least we’re free.”

It still amazed Fakir each and every day how much Ahiru had matured throughout the years. She was still such a hopelessly selfless, kind woman, but now she knew so much- about the world, about living, and she didn't want to waste a single second. And she never took anything for granted.

He missed being able to talk to her as often as he’d liked to.

“So we're going to make it. We've handled worse.”

“I know that. We're living. But it doesn't feel like it's enough for you to be happy.”

“Oh, _Fakir_ , don't you understand? I _am_ happy!” She turned to face him, her face breaking into a grin.

He stated at her, speechless. “You--”

“Yes! Maybe it's just that my expectations for happiness are still too low, but I'm comfortable. I have enough. There's food on the table, a roof over our heads, and sure, it may be close to the bare minimum… but if you ask me, we do have enough. I couldn't have ever dreamed to be living like this.”

Fakir looked down, and for the first time, allowed a small smile to creep across his face. “I'll never understand you, idiot. You've cried more times in the past year than probably your entire life, and if seems like I haven't heard your laugh in a month, and yet somehow you can still honestly claim your happiness.”

Ahiru dropped her gaze too. “You're probably right,” she said quietly, swallowing. “I realized that a while ago, and was trying to figure out why.” She closed the distance between them. “But I now know it's because there's only one thing I really need, and it's been… gone, for a really long time now.”

She met his eyes, and they urged her to continue.

“You. Your happiness.”

His eyes widened in surprise, and she found it silly that he hadn't expected that.

“I'm _so_ sorry, Ahiru.”

“Please don't be.” She hugged him, pulling him close so she could feel the warmth of him arms. “I just so rarely get to see you anymore. You're off at work mostly, then you come home and just want to be alone. You're either stressed and angry, or tired, or asleep, and it's killing me to see you like that so often.”

“But what can I do?”

“Think about yourself once in a while, please. Appreciate what we have, and just think about that alone right now. Take the time to write like you need to. Don't push yourself so hard. And on your off time, maybe y-you could spend time with m-me, i-if that isn't too much to ask…”

“You're the world to me. Whatever you ask for is never too much.”

“W-Well…”

He lightly kissed the top of her head. “Come on, now. We should get going before the sun sets.”

“Okay. If you're feeling better, that is.” Ahiru pulled away from the embrace and they made eye contact again. He was looking at her with that beautiful affectionate expression it seemed he showed to her alive. She loved it, and was unspeakably glad that it was coming back.

“Yeah. Thank you. I think--I think we both needed that.” He put an arm around her shoulders. “Let's go home, sunshine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written August, 2016. I'm going to be posting my fics from tumblr onto here in case the site goes down. 
> 
> Original Note: "I’m getting around to the other things I need to write--I heard this song for the first time yesterday (and fell immediately in love with it--it’s seriously one of my favorite songs right now. I love it), and the idea for this immediately popped into my head, so it was one of those “quick, write this before the inspiration slips away” type situations. I feel like the pacing is kind of bad, but… whatever. I like it. Although, I have to say, this really isn’t something I ever though I was going to write. A post-canon Tutu-fic, I mean. Since I loved the ending and wouldn’t change anything about it. Just this idea was consuming my brain, so I just had to write it."


End file.
